Abu Ghosh from the Church Hilltop:
The church where we performed. It dates back to 1100 AD!
Rehearsal in the church. Check the ceiling:
Petunias!
The western edge of Jerusalem, from the Kibbutz:
The church on the Hilltop, where we would sing, and the town below:
Abu Ghosh:
Hello everyone! The Wi-Fi Gods are smiling upon me, and the host family with which I am staying has an excellent internet connection. I will try to post more photos tomorrow of our activities today but don't have much time left before I have to go to bed tonight.
We have moved from Abu Ghosh into the region of Emek Hefer, in the North of the country between Tel Aviv and Haifa. We are just about 5 km in from the coast, according to our host family. It is still just as beautiful here, with incredible trees and the perfect Mediterranean climate. We are being hosted by a wonderful Israeli family in a small village just outside the place where we are singing.
The first event since my last update was an absolutely incredible cultural experience. About twenty of the singers were out on the lawn of the kibbutz last night playing group games and talking, when we heard the 9:00 PM Call to Prayer from the Mosque below. The minaret has speakers mounted to it and they project the call to prayer over the valley. It was stunning to sit on the Kibbutz lawn and listen to the distant call cutting through the silence - a truly wonderful cultural experience. I wish I had kept my camera with me to record it.
Today a few of us woke up early to take a walk down to the town and go to the store, and explore the town before leaving it. We took the walk (much shorter than expected) down the hill to the first store we found and I had my first Fanta of the trip! (YAY! first Fanta after nearly a year!) We also bought some Magnum bars and were able to explore the town a bit. Unfortunately, there was not much to see in the town, but it was certainly immersion into the culture there, because in such a small Arab town, very few people spoke English and it was definitely very foreign to us to be immerse in it.
We then had our second concert of the Abu Ghosh festival, performing in the same church as we had before, but this time singing Rachmaninoff, Mahler, Strauss, and more Brahms. Again, the audience was very appreciative of our performance and enjoyed the concert very much. The Rach is such an incredible piece, and an old man in the front row had his eyes closed and was mouthing the words the whole time we sang. Another man was moved to tears, and still another nudged his wife during the Bogoroditse and made a hand motion as if to indicate that we were making the hair on his arms stand up. Afterward, there was a small collection of vendor booths set up for the festival and we were able to shop for a bit. I found a nice gift for a nice price!
We then proceeded to the Emek Hefer region where we went to a building on another Kibbutz to meet with the members of a local girls' choir and our host families. The choir chatted with us as we ate and later they performed for us. My favorite numbers were Israeli folk songs they performed in Hebrew and a song in English calling for peace and unity between the Israeli and Palestinean people. We then performed a couple of songs for them. We had a wonderful time talking to them; many were just a few years younger than we are. Karsten and I were paired with a wonderful couple that live in a small village of which I cannot remember the name. I am also not going to even try to spell the names of the people we are staying with, but they are quite nice. Tomorrow they will take us to the beach where we will spend the day before our concert.
I will certainly update tomorrow, seeing as how we have excellent internet here. Looking forward to the beach tomorrow, and I will post pictures as the trip progresses.
Much love to friends and family back home.
Hebrew Lesson of the day:
Shalom: Hello and Goodbye
To Da: Thank you.
That's about all I've picked up so far...
